Taking a look back at seven days of news and headlines across the world of Android, this week’s Android Circuit includes reviews of the Galaxy Note 8, the delights of the S-Pen, the failure of the fingerprint, Nokia 8 pre-orders, the Pixel 2’s new feature, the return of Android One, an Essential mess, and Microsoft bringing cat gifs to Android.

Ahead of its public availability, the Galaxy Note 8 has been in the hands of a number of reviewers who are discovering why the phablet is an evolutionary success, rather than revolutionary. But the Note 8 still retains a significant advantage - the S-Pen - as Samuel Gibbs discovered:

The Samsung Note series created the phablet category in 2011, defined as a smartphone with a 5in or larger screen. As smartphone screens grew in size to the monsters we have today, a big screen wasn’t enough to differentiate the Note against the competition.

But while large screens are now common, a stylus is certainly not. So it is the unique blend of large screen, a stylus, the as-small-as-possible form factor and large collection of productivity tools that have made the Note so popular. The Note 8 doesn’t break with that tradition.

A South Korean man experience Samsung Electronics Galaxy Note 8 smartphone at its shop in Seoul, South Korea (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)

Edging With The Note 8

The S-Pen is not the only area where Samsung has continued to up its game over the years. The Galaxy Note 4 was the first to see an ‘edge’ to the screen and since that release the South Korean company has continued to improve the curved screen. It’s now at the point where enough lessons have been learned to create the best curve yet. David Phelan highlights the latest win:

But now, on the Galaxy Note8, the edges are steeper, with snugger curves that wrap right round to the back of the phone. This has two effects, both of them quietly transformative. First, the display loses the distortion it had on earlier slopes, so it looks better.

Secondly, and more importantly, it feels fantastic. It helps to make the phone feel much more manageable than a six-inch display ever sounds like it could be, and it’s a much smoother experience than previous Galaxy phones have managed.

With the S8, I didn't have much issue with its placement due to the size of the phone and not having to stretch my finger up to the sensor to use it. With the Note 8, my view of the placement has changed. The Note 8 is much taller, and it's far more awkward to reach the sensor when holding the phone with one hand. Often times I found myself using my left hand just to touch the fingerprint sensor while holding the phone in my right hand. The point of a fingerprint sensor for unlocking the phone is to streamline the process, not complicate them.

Face recognition and iris scanning are available, however, due to wearing glasses the experience with either feature is less than ideal. Actually, I don’t suggest using face unlock due to the fact it can be tricked with a photo of your face.

HMD Global’s Nokia 8 opened up for pre-orders this week in the US, and the handsets will be available next week on September 13th… the day after Apple’s big event. If you don’t like the look of the new iPhones, HMD Global wants you to return to Nokia.

The Nokia 8 ships with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 system, 4GB or 6GB of RAM, and 64GB or 128GB of on-board storage. It supports microSD for expanded storage, while the dual lens camera system sees the return of Zeis hardware to the smartphone world.

It will also run Google’s implementation of stock Android with no extra UI elements or bloatware-style apps added by HMD Global. HMD has also made a commitment to support Google’s security updates as quickly as possible.